JPH0338183Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field to which the invention pertains] The present invention relates to a conveyance device for conveying an object such as a solid drug (tablet) for visual inspection thereof.

[Prior art and its problems]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional conveying device for conveying solid agents for visual inspection in an automatic solid agent sorter that automatically sorts solid agents based on the quality of visual inspection. FIG. 2 is a front view of the inspection drum 4 or 5 in FIG. 1.

In these figures, 1 is the hopper, 2 is the tablet feeder, 3 is its outer guide, 4 is the first test drum, 5 is the second test drum, 6 is the negative pressure chamber in the drum, and 7 is the test drum. 15 pockets around the area
8 is an industrial television camera (hereinafter also referred to as an ITV camera), 9 is an illumination lamp, 10 is a chute, and 13 is a tablet.

In FIG. 1, tablets 13 fed from a hopper 1 are delivered to a supply section 2 consisting of an internal supply drum.
and is delivered to the first inspection drum 4 by its outer guide 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the tablets 13 adsorbed by the negative pressure supplied through the suction holes 7 into the pockets 15 provided around the inspection drum 4 are irradiated by the illumination lamps 9.
After its upper half was inspected by ITV camera 8,
It is delivered to the second inspection drum 5, where its lower half is similarly inspected, and distributed to an appropriate chute 10 according to its quality.

The supply section 2 is made to match the size and shape of the tablets so that the tablets 13 can be placed one by one into the pockets of the drum in the correct posture for inspection. When transferring tablets between the supply section 2 and the inspection drum 4, the dimensional relationship between the supply section 2, its outer guide 3, and the inspection drum 4 is determined so that the horizontal movement distance of the tablets during transfer is zero. There is. When transferring between the supply section 2 and the inspection drum 4, the tablets 13 are always placed in the outer guide 3, even if there is a width in the tablet thickness dimension, because the pockets in the supply section 2 are holes through which the tablets can pass. Since the tablet approaches the inspection drum 4, which is positioned with reference to , the posture of the tablet at the time of delivery is stabilized. However, when transferring from the first inspection drum 4 to the second inspection drum 5, since the drum is made of a highly rigid metal, consideration must be given to the thickness tolerance of the tablets and the machining dimensional tolerance of the drum, etc. Appropriate clearance must be provided between both drums. Due to this clearance, the horizontal movement distance of the tablet cannot be reduced to zero during delivery, and during this time there is room for gravity to act on the tablet, resulting in the tablet shifting in the direction of gravity. However, since the tablet is stored in the pocket 15 both before and after delivery, as shown in FIG. 2, the amount of movement of the tablet due to displacement remains within the size of the pocket 15. However, due to this deviation, the posture of the tablet 13 for the next inspection is disturbed, resulting in a disadvantage that the appearance inspection becomes inconvenient.

Furthermore, since there are no particular standards for the thickness or diameter of tablets, there are a wide variety of tablet sizes. Therefore, if the dimensions of the pocket were to be designed in accordance with the dimensions of the tablet, it would be necessary to prepare many types of inspection drums with pockets of various sizes, resulting in an increase in costs.

Furthermore, when the pocket 15 stores the tablet 13 therein, a gap may be created between the pocket 15 and the tablet 13, but this gap is blocked by the edge of the pocket 15, etc., and there is no illumination light for inspection. There was a drawback that the tablet 13 did not reach the target and a shadow was formed, which could be an obstacle to the visual inspection of the tablet 13.

[Purpose of invention]

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art as described above, and the purpose of the present invention is to reduce the size of objects such as tablets when they are transferred from one inspection drum to another. Regardless of the size, shape, etc., the transfer distance in the transfer direction is zero, that is, the transfer can be carried out without any disturbance in the posture.In addition, it is inconvenient to prepare an inspection drum with pockets of various dimensions, and it is difficult to inspect the appearance. It is an object of the present invention to provide an object conveying device that does not create shadows that may interfere with objects.

[Key points of the idea]

The main points of the configuration of the present invention are that objects are attracted and transported by the negative pressure suction port formed directly around the drum without providing pockets around the transport drum, and the periphery of the transport drum is made elastic. It lies in the points made up of the body.

[Example of idea]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a front view of the inspection drum in one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3A is a sectional view of the same side.

In these figures, 12 is a rubber-like elastic body. That is, the inspection drum 4 or 5 used in the present invention has its periphery made of a rubber-like elastic body 12, eliminates the pocket conventionally provided around the drum, and allows tablets 13 to be directly placed on the periphery of the drum through the suction port 7. I try to absorb it. The embodiment of the present invention does not differ from the configuration shown in FIG. 1 except that the inspection drums 4 and/or 5 are constructed in this manner.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the main parts of an embodiment of the present invention at the time of delivery.

As seen in the figure, the gap between the rubber-like elastic body 12 of the first inspection drum 4 and the rubber-like elastic body 12 of the second inspection drum 5 is made narrower than the thickness dimension of the tablet 13, and the gap is made narrower than the thickness dimension of the tablet 13. The configuration is such that the rubber-like elastic body 12 is compressed and deformed, and the delivery is accomplished with zero movement in the delivery direction (horizontal direction) during delivery.

In addition, at this time, it goes without saying that the suction port 7 on the receiving side stops supplying negative pressure, and the suction port 7 on the receiving side starts supplying negative pressure.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in the figure, the shafts of the drum constituting the supply section 2 and the second inspection drum 5 are fixed, and the shafts of the first inspection drum The axial position of the shaft is varied in the A direction or the A' direction. The inspection drums 4 and 5 in this case are of course constituted by drums having a rubber-like elastic body formed around them. By variable adjustment of the axial position of the inspection drum 4, appropriate clearances δ1 and δ2 suitable for the tablet thickness can be obtained.

[Effect of idea]

According to this invention, the following effects can be obtained by using a simple inspection drum in which the outer periphery of the drum is made of a rubber-like elastic material, no pocket is provided, and only a suction port is provided.

(1) Since the amount of movement in the transfer direction (generally horizontal direction) during transfer between inspection drums can be reduced to zero, the posture of the tablet will not collapse during transfer and will be stable.

(2) Since the tablets are adsorbed in an exposed manner on the outer periphery of the inspection drum, the problem of the conventional method where the illumination light for inspection could not reach around the tablets due to the edge of the pocket has been improved, and the S/N ratio has been improved. Leads to.

(3) Products with a simplified inspection drum shape can be manufactured easily, reducing costs.

(4) The same inspection drum can be used for various tablets with different external dimensions, which increases versatility, which also leads to cost reduction.

In addition to the automatic tablet sorter described above, this invention can be applied to automatic capsule sorters and other conveying devices using drums.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional object conveying device for visual inspection of objects, FIG. 2 is a front view of the inspection drum in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the inspection drum in an embodiment of the present invention. , FIG. 3A is a sectional view of the same side,
FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the main parts of one embodiment of the present invention at the time of delivery, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. Symbol explanation, 1...hopper, 2...tablet supply section,
3... Outer guide, 4... First inspection drum, 5...
...Second inspection drum, 6...Negative pressure chamber, 7...Suction port, 8...ITV camera, 9...Illumination lamp, 1
0...Chute, 12...Rubber-like elastic body, 13...
...tablets, 15...pocket.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. An object such as a solid agent transported by a first drum is transferred from the first drum to a second transport drum, and then transported by the second drum. In the object conveying device, the periphery of one or both of the first and second drums is made of an elastic material, and the periphery of the drum made of the elastic material or the periphery of the drum not made of the elastic material is moved from the inside to the outside. The object is attracted and conveyed by a penetrating suction port, and the distance between opposing surfaces around the first drum and the second drum is narrower than the thickness of the object, so that the elastic body is compressively deformed. An object conveying device characterized in that the object is transferred from the vicinity of the first drum to the vicinity of the second drum by sandwiching the object between the opposing surfaces. 2 Utility Model Registration The object conveying device according to claim 1, characterized in that the axial position of the drum is variably adjustable.